How To Exercise With A Super Busy Schedule

You’re determined to work out or exercise more, but you’re busy, busy, busy.

Relax! Whether it’s your kids, job, or social life preventing you from exercising consistently, it is absolutely possible to work more exercise into your routine! Here’s how real people like you are making it happen.

The first step is to make exercise a priority. Just like wouldn’t skip breakfast or brushing your teeth in the morning, you should not make a habit of skipping exercise. It should be a significant part of your daily activities because it keeps your body strong and healthy. It also releases stress and simply makes you feel better.

Next, you should incorporate High Intensity Interval Training into your exercise routines. HiiT exercise is 15 to 25 minutes of interval training that gives you an intense workout in a short amount of time. Add to this some circuit training, and you will be amazed as to what can be accomplished, in terms of getting a complete cardio and resistance training workout in a very short period of time.

For Busy Professionals

Wake up early. This is the most common work-around because it makes the most sense: it buys you extra time and forces you to work out before a busy and draining day so that you don’t make excuses afterwards.

As you’re lying in bed, contemplating skipping your workout and sleeping in, remind yourself that you’ll be home from work in 8-10 hours, and then you can truly relax and stretch out on the couch, knowing your workout is done and the evening is yours.

Eat later, sweat now. A lunch hour is enough time to get a little extra exercise in. Sure, you might not want to exercise as vigorously as you would at the gym knowing you’ll have to go back to your desk after, but an hour can still give you 30-40 minutes of moderate exercise that adds to your daily quota. For, example, you can walk up and several flights of stairs. If no stairs are available, walk up and down the block or hallway. Add a few stretches, and do some push-ups, and you will be re-energized for the rest of your work day.

Bike to Work. Many cities have implemented bike lanes to make biking safer and more convenient than ever before. So, bike to work whenever possible, weather permitting.

Split it. If there’s really no time in the day for one single stretch of exercise, try splitting your routine into two smaller segments: if you want to exercise for 60 minutes, try doing 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening. Or, you may be able to squeeze in mini-exercise sessions throughout the day during coffee or restroom breaks.

While at work. Depending on your job,keep small dumbbells or exercise tubing at your desk. Squeeze in 12 to 15 reps of exercises like dumbbell curls, overhead presses, and ab crunches; aim for two or three sets of each. You can also do several sets of chair squats throughout the day.

For parents

Use the in-gym daycare. Your four year old may cry and whine, but in-gym daycares are a godsend. Change and transitions are hard for children, and very few children want to be dropped off at daycare, regardless of how much fun they have once they’re there.

Even if the child dislikes being separated from you, exercise is important; you need alone time to practice good self-care, which allows you to be a better, more present parent when you are with your child. An hour or two in daycare each day won’t kill them, and they’ll develop important social skills and learn to be independent.

Make it a family affair. Many people let family life come in the way of exercise: families can and should exercise. Gyms with children’s programming allow your child to take swimming lessons or your teen to play basketball while you work out.

Share care. Single parent struggling to find affordable childcare while you workout? Try finding another parent willing to get a membership to the same gym; you watch the kids for the first hour while he or she works out, and they take the second shift while you do.

For the Socially Inclined

Join a sports league. Many operate on weekends, and group settings offer structure and accountability.

Take a class. Classes let you meet like-minded individuals who thrive in a social or group setting. Bring a friend, or go to meet new ones!

Try a new happy hour. Already have a set Friday or Saturday date with friends or significant other? Hit a class or the gym together before you go out! New experiences increase dopamine (the “pleasure hormone”) in the brain, improving relationship satisfaction and allowing you to see your friends or loved one in a new light.

In a perfect world, we’d all have at least an hour a day to devote to our fitness. But in the real world, 24 hours a day doesn’t seem like nearly enough time to fit in work, school, and family. Now, you can stop stressing by applying the above tips to work in your exercise during your super busy schedule.